TODAY'S "HAPPY RECAP" FROM "THE BANK"

First the good news:

• The Phillies came from behind to beat the Montreal/San Juan/(your town here) Expos at The Bank 5-4, thanks to a "go-homer" (apologies to ESPN's John Anderson) from Penn grad/humorist/Phillies utility-outfielder Doug Glanville in the bottom of the 9th.
  
• Of all the high prices at The Bank for food and other concessions ($10 for a "commemerative program", $6.75 for a cheese-steak - either from Tony Luke's or Geno's - is worth it. Overall, the food is a hell of a lot better at The Bank than at The Vet.
  
• The Broad Street Line actually looked a little organized for the first time in the past few years. There wasn't much of a crowd as only two trains were parked on 4 track at Pattison (though a local was pulling in just as an express was ready to pull out). All headhouses at Pattison were operational today.
  
• The Broad Street special express to Fern Rock that I rode actually felt like an express. Incidentially, there are new electronic block signs being retro-fit onto the B-IV cars, as noticed by the lead car in my train (667/95 block).
  
• Even the infamous 4219 block was running relatively close to schedule as the 6:05pm trip was ONLY 3 minutes late (at times, departures on this trip can be 5-10 minutes late), arriving in West Chester only 1 minute late (again, an improvement). Of course, 4219 block was covered by 5589, so that may have helped.

Now, the bad news:

• The 12:05pm 104 to 69 St (5305/4215 block) left New and Market at 12:04pm, which indicated to me that this driver was running way ahead of schedule. Naturally, he practically dogged it along the Pike through Willistown and Edgmont. To make things worse, there was no working a/c on the bus.
  
• The reason I was stuck taking the 12:05pm trip was because I had dozed off when I got home from work, thus oversleeping. When I got to 69 St, I had to take a cab to The Bank, which seemed to take forever (even though it was really about 20-25 minutes, and cost around $20-25) thanks to a slow cabbie (who I'm convinced would get placed on the 104 if SEPTA hired him). At least I didn't miss the opening pitch.
  
• That stupid "Race to the Vet" is back. Popped up in the bottom of 5th inning when the Expos changed pitchers in the middle of Placido Polanco's at bat. Nice to see your fare dollars hard at work.
  
• While waiting for the El, I noticed that there were 5 SEPTA "rent-a-cops" loitering by the clothespin at 15-Market. You know, it would be nice if they actually would've gone into the station area to help with possible crowd control.

Let's hope that the positives observed today are a trend that SEPTA is actually going to operate decent service on the Broad Street Line this season...